On the weekend of the 25th and 26th of October, it was our pleasure to welcome some of our friends up from Dublin Institute of Technology Samba Drumming Society. They had encountered BEATnDRUM performing at the Drogheda Samba Festival 2013 and then met Damian again there this year whilst performing with all Ireland band, Maracatu Ilha Brilhante. Damian mentioned that they should get in touch with us to see if we could collaborate on some projects/training events.
Through this intitial contact the D.I.T Samba Society became involved with our “Made In Belfast” Carnival event which we produced for Culture Night Belfast 2014.
Society chairman Brendan arranged with myself (Matt) ,whilst I was in Dublin giving the guys a run through the M.I.B.C material, that after the event they would like to travel to Belfast to do a 12 hour percussion workshop over 2 days at Beat Carnival Centre.
Over the weekend we discussed many things involving carnival percussion and the ever changing nature of community bands especially within a college or school environment. With all this considered we tailored the workshop to meet the specific needs of their band.
We worked on stick skills, hand drumming skills as well as directing techniques and also learned 3 different rhythms for several instruments and accompanying breaks, intros and endings.
The group were challenged and skills expanded and left the building tired but happy!
Beat Carnival centre is the perfect place to do this sort of training. We have 2 fantastic percussion tutors Damian and Matt (who have provided training for the 4 main Samba groups in Belfast) who can tailor a workshop programme to suit the needs of your group.
We also have a dedicated 320sq foot soundproofed rehearsal space with capacity and instruments for 40 players.
Beat can provide access to audio, video and written learning resources allowing you to study the material at your leisure.
We can offer consultation on suitable equipment for new bands on any budget and also offer leader/director training.
If you feel that this TOTAL Learning package might be of benefit to you or your group or organisation, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
